Some staffing categories saw bigger drops with respect to enrollment than others. While staff classified as clerical, secretarial, or technical workers saw the largest decline, at 24 percent, staff classified as “other professionals” grew 6 percent across all two- and four-year public institutions.

While faculty-to-student ratios declined on the whole, the role of part-time faculty actually increased. Full-time faculty per student declined by roughly 9 percent from 2001 to 2009, while part-time staff per student grew by 2 percent.

“Institutions are using more adjunct faculty as a way of coping with resource constraint and enrollment growth,” Mr. Lingenfelter said.

One skeptic, however, says the study only looks at the number of staffers — not the money paid out to them — and suspects a section of that staffing might contain some (growing number of) highly paid executives.

Another, the controversial libertarian/conservative Richard Vedder, said the figures might simply reflect a reclassification of employees — though he did find the report “encouraging.”

About the blogger

Alex Friedrich reports on higher education issues for MPR News. Among the stories he has covered: the fall of the Berlin Wall, aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, 2003 Moscow suicide bombing and 2004 presidential elections in the Republic of Georgia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and a master’s in European political economy from the London School of Economics.